SACHEN NEWS

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June-September 1999                                                ISSN 1203-3367                                                     Volume 10 Number 2

In this issue

Message from the Editorial Board
Finding Energy for Kosovo:  A Note About the Bodhisattva Vow, by Dr. William Bruneau
Jetsun Kushok-la's Visits to Sakya Yigah Choeling, South Australia in 1998-1999, by Bruce Muhlhan, Secretary, Sakya Yigah Choeling
STTL schedule and programmes

Message from the Editorial Board

The Editorial Board invites contributions to Sachen News.  Submission deadlines:

Autumn issue (Sept.-Nov. 99):  15 July 99
Winter issue (Dec. 99 - Feb. 00): 15 October 99
Spring issue (Mar.-May 00):  15 January 2000
Summer issue (Jun.-Aug. 00):  15 April 2000

Contributions should preferably be in type-written or electronic form, emailed directly to:
[email protected] 

The Editorial Board reserves the right to edit the articles submitted. As we try to contain all information within the 11 X 17" format, some articles submitted may be reserved for future publication.

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Finding Energy for Kosovo: A Note About the Bodhisattva Vow

- Dr. William Bruneau

 Maybe because it's a European war, the "news" from Kosovo is endless. I put "news" in quotation marks because, of course, most of what we see is plain propaganda. Even so, it's impossible to deny the pain, the misery, and the endless devastation of whole peoples. It's right there in front of us, thanks to CNN. 

It was easier to avoid responsibility when it happened in Rwanda, where the television never quite managed to penetrate. And it was even easier a half-century ago, when the Chinese began a decade of increasingly aggressive incursions into Tibet. Without television, and just a few PathéCiné newsclips on Canadian movie screens, it must have seemed a relatively unimportant matter, a question of Asian geopolitics, not worth thinking about. 

Kosovo is a different matter, if only because it's "in our faces." Most of us are alarmed, afraid, and able to feel some of the pain of the bereaved and the displaced. And most of us are asking the inevitable question, "What can we DO?!!" 

To judge from past experience, many Buddhists are likely to make a two-part response.

First, they will seek to look at things just as they are. That means looking closely at ourselves, and thinking of all sentient beings caught in the web of violence, prejudice, distrust, and outright hate, among them the peoples of the Balkans.

Second, they'll continue work on what we sometimes call the Two Accumulations. On one hand, they will try to deepen their powers of insight, or discriminating awareness. For in the light of uncontrived and complete awareness, we finally come to see things as they actually are, and especially, we see how cause/effect, motive/result are at work in the unbelievably complicated worlds of the Balkans - which are our worlds, too.

On another hand, they will attempt to act compassionately, with skill and determination. In the Mahayana, the link between these two (insight and compassionate action) is profound, and immensely power. The strength and spontaneity we bring to each accumulation has a mysterious result: 
for at the meeting-place of the two, there is a kind of alchemy. It's as though the power of insight is intensified, exponentially, when it is in the presence of skillfully compassionate activity. The meeting of the two accumulations - a continuous and spontaneous and complete meeting - is how some describe buddhahood, or "realization of the mind."

If we live the life of the Two Accumulations, and if they meet, we really have no idea where we'll end up. We may end up exactly where we are. On the other hand, we may find ourselves packaging bandages for the Canadian Red Cross in downtown Vancouver or uptown New York. Or we may find ourselves not far from the sound of gunfire in rural Macedonia, helping Médecins sans Frontières. 

This actually sounds a bit terrifying. But it's not all that terrifying if we're living the compassion/insight path, if we're accepting the full karmic burdens of others (as Santideva's Bodhicaryavatara beautifully shows). After all, we have no idea what energies and abilities will be released by the work of realization: so our great work, our job, is simply to commit ourselves to that path, and let it all happen.

It still sounds a bit terrifying. And it really doesn't answer the question, "What can I DO about Kosovo?" And besides, for most of us, the strength to leave the world as we know it, to escape attachment, and just "let it happen" - that strength isn't there, not quite yet.

If we're in that situation, and we mostly are, THEN what might we do? Here I think it's worth remembering the deepest commitments of Dharma practice. Yes, it's crucially important to practice the Two Accumulations, and to be calmly and sharply aware of people, minds, and things as they actually are. But all of us have taken a vow, a promise to order our existence in such a way that our realization will come quickly, so that we can help all sentient beings to escape the endless round of existence, the endless round of desire and avoidance, the deep trap of "samsara." 

That promise is, of course, the Bodhisattva Vow:

I pledge to gain Enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings, 
but not to enter nirvana until all sentient beings have gone before.

Now, let's not kid ourselves. This vow is pretty scary, too. Where could we possibly find the energy, the knowledge, and means to help all sentient beings enter nirvana?

The dharma is wide and deep. On this question, it is especially wide and deep. For many of us, it may be enough just to remember how much energy we are spending in the daily scramble. Think how hard very, very hard we work, every day, to hold on to our possessions, to keep alive the image of ourselves we want others to see and to believe. Think, just for a moment, of the enormous spiritual energy tied up in the daily scramble to keep our personal images alive, and to keep our lives as we want them (full, convenient, comfortable, and OURS). And then think, "what would happen if every bit of that spirit, every ounce of that psychological energy were suddenly available for the benefit of others?" 

Suddenly, the question isn't "What can I do for the million Kosovar refugees in Yugoslavia?" The question is, can we move steadily, with good hearts, and calm spirits, to release the unending energies of realized mind?

There's a wonderful Negro spiritual whose refrain goes this way:

Ah'm so busy, workin' for my Jesus, 
Ain't got time to die.

 Although it may not be easy to identify with some of the sentiment in that stanza, I like the dharmic messages tied up in its words. The ideas of life and death, the cycle of birth and re-birth, the power of samsara - all begin to lose their power over us when we work intensely and hard for insight, and when we join that insight with loving compassion. 

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Jetsun Kushok-la's visits to Sakya Yigah Choeling, South Australia in 1998 and 1999

-by Bruce Muhlhan, Secretary
  Sakya Yigah Choeling

Sakya Yigah Choeling is a small but vibrant Dharma Centre in the City of Whyalla in the mid north of South Australia.  Sakya Yigah Choeling, also known as the Whyalla Buddhist Meditation Centre, began in early 1996, with the help of Ven. Loppon Ngawang Dhamchoe (Loppon-la), the Resident Lama of Sakya Tharpa Ling, Sydney.  Since then the Centre has had the good fortune of hosting visits by HE Chogye Trichen Rinpoche and Lama Cheodak, the Gyuto Monks, HH Sakya Trizin, HE Dungyud Tulku Rinpoche, Khenpo Migmar, HE Sakya Jetsun Kushok-la and of course Loppon-la on many occasions.

The Whyalla City Council has set aside a portion of vacant land in the middle of the city known as the Eco City core site to showcase the construction of buildings using the principles of Ecologically Sustainable Development.  Sakya Yigah Choeling has land on the site and in 1997 HH Sakya Trizin there performed the sacred Terbum Ceremony, culminating in the burial of the Terbum (wealth vase) in the middle of our designated area.  At this stage, the first of five buildings has partially been completed by members and friends, using straw-bale building technology.  It was largely the enthusiasm generated through working together as a community to construct the building that led us respectfully to request Jetsun Kushok-la to consecrate it.

Our direct association with Jetsun Kushok-la began in April 1998, when a group of us from Sakya Yigah Choeling travelled across Australia to Sydney to receive the Vajrayogini empowerment she was bestowing, an event hosted by Sakya Tharpa Ling.  Our President, Rae Watson also travelled to Canberra for the uncommon White Tara weekend retreat that Jetsun Kushok-la was presiding over.  Her itinerary included the Melbourne Sakya Centre, Sakya Choekhor Lhunpo, where she gave the Parting From The Four Attachments, the Green Tara Empowerment and the Refuge Ceremony.

 Jetsun Kushok-la's brief visit to Whyalla was preceded by an article and photograph on the front page of the local newspaper (the Whyalla News), taking up more than half the page and with the main headline 'Highest ranking Buddhist woman to visit Whyalla.'  It was fantastic publicity.  She was accompanied by her husband Sey Kushok-la, Lama Kalsang, and Loppon-la. 

 Jetsun Kushok-la arrived mid afternoon and during the remainder of the day and evening she was welcomed by the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and the local Member of Parliament, she consecrated our building after which she was presented with a specially made Ocarina (musical wind-instrument) in the shape of an owl, performed the Green Tara Puja in the open building, despite a freezing gale blowing straight off the southern ocean, joined us for a shared meal with members of the public and guests, presented a public talk on Women and Buddhism, gave Refuge to a dozen or so people, and bestowed the common White Tara empowerment. 

 The next morning she had breakfast with members of  Sakya Yigah Choeling, had a follow-up interview with the Whyalla News, and went for a walk in a local park to greet some kangaroos and galahs, then departed for Adelaide and Singapore.  All of this in less than 24 hours!  And she was brimming with warmth and joy the whole time.

 Of course we invited her to return, as we knew she was coming back in 1999 for the Tenth Annual White Tara Retreat in Canberra, but we also knew she would have a very busy program in Australia and we were not sure whether she could fit us in.  You can imagine our surprise and delight when we were informed by Lama Choedak (Spiritual Director of Sakya Losal Choe Dzong, Canberra) that Jetsun Kushok-la had specifically indicated that she wanted to come back to Whyalla during her return visit to Australia in 1999.

Her 1999 itinerary meant that she and Sey Kushok-la travelled to Whyalla straight after the extensive White Tara Retreat in Canberra.  We were so glad that she arrived in such high spirits even though she was obviously quite tired.  An informative article in the Whyalla News about her had the headline 'Lama's teachings to Whyalla a first for South Australia'.  It was more good publicity. 

 Jetsun Kushok-la began the weekend program with a public talk on Life In Tibet, which was mainly about her own experiences and her subsequent life in India and Canada.  During this talk she displayed her characteristic wit and wisdom.  For example, during the question and answer period she was asked,'You say that you started teaching because your Guru asked you to.  Will you keep teaching until your Guru says you can stop or will you keep teaching until you want to stop?'  Jetsun Kushok-la replied, 'Ah??..Yes!' 

 Her main teaching was the uncommon White Tara empowerment and teachings during the weekend.  It was a wonderful atmosphere and many Dharma students joined us from Adelaide and interstate.  She graciously joined the group for the evening meals so that many people could spend some personal time with her.

 Sey Kushok-la was sometimes asked what his role was and he would humbly say 'I do nothing.'  But we all know that he does a great deal both during the empowerments and teachings and behind the scenes.

 After her visit to Whyalla, a group of us from Sakya Yigah Choeling  travelled with her and Sey Kushok-la to Vajradhara Gonpa where she gave the Vajrayogini empowerments and extensive teachings.  At the end of this retreat, all of us from Sakya Yigah Choeling earnestly requested Jetsun Kushok-la to return to Whyalla to give Vajrayogini empowerments and teachings the next time she visits Australia and she happily agreed to do so.

 After her teaching program at Vajradhara Gonpa she travelled to Brisbane, where members of Chogye Tsechen Cho Dzong hosted her.  Her program there included Green Tara and White Tara empowerments and teachings and the Refuge Ceremony.  This concluded her demanding but hugely successful visit to Australia in 1999.

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